Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Haut-Médoc Tasting Notes
Beyond Château Sociando-Mallet there were few wines here that produced any sense of excitement, although there were certainly some that had been sensitively made, and nicely worked within the confines of the vintage. In terms of style, these wines had a dark fruit character, soft and open, and although they may not make old bones they should probably provide some attractive, short-to-mid-term drinking. Others, however, showed a rather more austere character, lean and less flattering in the midpalate.
At first there did not seem to be any great pattern to the quality of the wines, but then I decided to arrange my tasting notes not by alphabetical order, but – in tune with my spirit of willingness of explore and understand the ‘lesser’ appellations of Bordeaux – I arranged them by geographical location instead. After all, as I indicated in my introduction, this is a sprawling and convoluted appellation that runs the entire length of the Gironde. An acknowledgement that this is the case quickly led to the conclusion that my notes should be separated out somewhat, just as I would separate Pomerol from St Emilion, or Pauillac from Margaux, or indeed Chinon from Vouvray, all neighbouring but quite distinct appellations.
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